Underground Catholic Church

The “2018 Vatican-China” deal continues to be a matter of “contention.”

The CCP “interprets” it to the effect that priests and bishops of the “Underground Catholic Church” should join the “Patriotic Catholic Church”, or else.

The Vatican has denied that this is a correct “interpretation” of the agreement, but in China those who “refuse” to join the Patriotic Church continue being “persecuted.”

A Catholic priest from the Diocese of Yujiang in the southeast Chinese province of Jiangxi was asked to assess the situation. His name is not mentioned for security reasons. He said that a look at the early history of “Catholicism in China” under CCP rule is needed in order to “understand” the most recent events.

“In the early years of the CCP rule, the priest remembered, the authorities carried out violent suppression of the Underground Catholic Church by arresting Chinese priests and clergy personnel and forcibly repatriating all foreign missionaries, including the very popular Lazarists, as well as seizing church properties. However, not only did the CCP’s arrests fail to destroy the church, but on the contrary, this caused more and more people to believe in God.” 

In fact, the priest argued, “in just more than 10 years, the number of churchgoers grew exponentially. This is something that the CCP never expected. It also made them realize that just simply making arrests was useless.”

The priest said that in the early 1950’s, the Chinese government launched the “Patriotic Church” and tried to “force” Catholic believers to join it and leave the “leadership” of the Pope.

Meanwhile, members of the clergy like Peter Joseph Fan Xueyan (1907-1992), a Catholic bishop who was “imprisoned” for more than 30 years for his refusal to “break ties” with the Vatican, remained “loyal” to the pope.

Many Catholic believers and clerics followed Bishop Fan in “boycotting” the Patriotic Church, and were “arrested.”

To CCP’s annoyance, however, there were more bishops like Fan Xueyan. Bishop Thomas Zeng Jingmu (1920-2016), the late sixth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Yujiang, was also “imprisoned” for about 30 years because he “refused” to join the CPCA. After his release from prison, he continuously remained under CCP “surveillance.”

Constantly “visited” by local officials and “monitored” at all times, the bishop was not allowed to move “freely or attend church events” as he wished. Friends and allies of the bishop tried repeatedly to “lose the surveillance” but were unsuccessful.

So, the priest said, “the authorities tried to prevent the emergence of another underground bishop with the same level of influence as Bishop Fan or Bishop Zeng.”

Now, the “strategy” has changed. Anxious about the church’s growth, the CCP has started to “implement” a new means of persecution: “to disintegrate the church from within.”

The priest explained: “CCP ideologists believe that religion is a kind of fanaticism: the harsher the persecution, the more powerful it becomes, and the more it grows. With respect to how religions are treated, only dis-integrative approaches can be adopted to break it up from the inside. The CCP is now using this disintegration method to break up our Diocese. This is scarier than being arrested, because there is simply no way to prevent such persecution.”

The priest said that there are three “primary methods” by which the CCP is seeking to “break up” the underground Catholic churches.

First, and the most significant, for the CCP is to place the bishops who refuse to join the Patriotic Church under surveillance.
Second, shut down underground seminaries and restrict the training of clergy.
Third, reduce the number of congregation venues and as a consequence of churchgoers. 

Chinese authorities are working hard to “influence” the underground clergy throughout the dioceses in China to “join” the Patriotic Church.

If “imprisonment, torture, bribes or material incentives” don’t work, bishops who “refuse” to join the Patriotic Church are placed under strict “surveillance” to prevent them from performing their duties and “deprive” the clergy of leadership. Today, even bishops in their 80’s and 90’s are monitored.

“The CCP has a lot of tricks: threatening people, using intimidation, arresting people, as well as financial inducement,” the interviewed priest said. “As long as someone agrees to join the Patriotic Church, they will be immediately promoted. They can also enjoy excellent benefits after retiring. The ways of the devil are sinister: he carefully explores people’s hearts and goes for the greatest weakness.”

The interviewed priest mentioned a case of a priest from the Diocese of Yujiang who was offered “hundreds of thousands of yuan” if he joined the Patriotic Church, but he “refused.”

With the “2018 Vatican-China” deal bishops should be “recognized” by the Pope. But, when the Vatican recognizes a bishop known for his “pro-CCP” positions, several devotees “refuse” to attend ceremonies presided by him. As a consequence, the Church becomes “divided.”

One informant even reported “rumors” that, to prevent this, the CCP keeps “secret” the fact that some former “underground” priests and bishops have “joined” the Patriotic Church. On the other hand, those who “stubbornly” refuse to join the Patriotic Church are “persecuted” and lose their parish positions.

The priest lamented, “The CCP is buying people off; it creates chaos at the church, causing the church to break up from the inside. This is a very sinister move!” 

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